Former Pakistan skipper Shoaib Malik has said that the national cricket team should have the former cricketing great Javed Miandad as the batting coach if it intends to overcome its batting problems. “I don’t think there is a better cricketer than Javed Miandad to take over as batting coach. He has a great cricket mind and sharp insight into the game.
I think he would be great,” said Malik, who is presently out of favour with the national selectors and under scrutiny by the integrity committee of the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB). Miandad was offered the batting coach position by the PCB before the team left for the West Indies tour but he rejected the offer, citing personal reasons. However, it is no secret that he does not want to work under head coach Waqar Younis and wants to have the supreme authority over the team.
Malik, who has not played for Pakistan since appearing in the Test series in England last summer, said that he had submitted all related documents and details to the integrity committee of the board and now it was up to the PCB to decide on his future. “I have done my part. Now it is their decision. It is up to the selectors to decide when they want me back for Pakistan. I have been keeping myself fit with yoga classes and intensive training so I am ready to make a comeback to international cricket whenever they want me to,” Malik said.
The former captain also revealed that attending yoga classes with his wife, the Indian tennis ace Sania Mirza, had helped him relax mentally and allowed him to cope with the disappointment of being out of the national team. “It is a great form of exercise and mediation,” Malik said. Malik also called for resumption of cricket ties with India but insisted that it was far more important to get foreign teams to start playing in Pakistan. “Definitely resuming bilateral cricket ties with India should be a priority but I feel we must work towards not only getting India but other teams as well to come and play in Pakistan.
Not having international matches in the country for the last two years has definitely hit the progress of the team and hurt the sport in Pakistan,” he said.